


Coming Out Is Hard To Do

by magicsophicorn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-12 07:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4469945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicsophicorn/pseuds/magicsophicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been four days since Emma came out to Regina, and she can't help but think that Regina is avoiding her. It's really bumming Emma out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Out Is Hard To Do

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an Anon prompt on tumblr "can you write something that will include emma saying to regina "what, you'll afraid that i'm gonna do something gay?"
> 
> This ended up way angstier than that prompter was probably hoping for... Oops?

It's been four days since Emma came out to Regina, and she can't help but think that Regina is avoiding her. It's really bumming Emma out.

They had been getting so close and forming a real friendship, which was the whole reason why Emma had told her about her sexuality, because that's the kind of thing that friends know about each other, ya know? She'd never even considered for a moment that Regina might react badly, but then here they were.

Normally they would have lunch together, or just chill out and drink wine after a family dinner, but in the last four days Regina had made absolutely sure that she and Emma were never alone together, and it really sucked. Was Regina afraid that Emma was suddenly going to pounce on her, or what? It was stupid, that's what it was. Because yeah, sure, Emma _would_ really like to pounce on Regina, but she's not going to do that because she has self control, like a decent, normal, human being.

Just then, the subject of Emma's train of thought entered the diner. Emma grit her teeth. She was going to have to do something about this situation, she couldn't carry on like this.

Emma hastily made her way over to Regina, and made sure to put herself between the door and the other woman so that Regina couldn't just bolt out of there to avoid her.

"Hey Regina," Emma said, trying her best to sound cheery.

"Miss Swan." 

It took everything within Emma not to shake Regina and scream in her face. _Just treat me the same as you did before, dammit!_

"We haven't hung out in a little while, so I was wondering if you wanted to have a wine and movie night at mine tonight, we can pack Henry off to his grandparents. What do you think?"

Emma hoped Regina would prove her wrong and accept. But of course she didn't.

"I'm afraid I have other plans tonight."

Emma's lie detector went off. She sighed.

"Well how about lunch tomorrow? I could bring you root beer again?"

"Oh, that's very kind, but I think I'll probably be far too busy to take a proper lunch break."

Ding ding ding! Went the lie detector. Emma was struggling to keep calm.

"You know if you don't want to hang out with me anymore you should just say so."

Regina's eyes went wide.

"What? No, that's not…" 

"I mean, what's the matter, are you afraid that I'm going to do something _gay_?"

Emma meant it to sound jokey, but she couldn't quite keep the bitter edge out of her voice.

"Homosexuality isn't contagious, you know."

And then she had to go and finish it off with that. So much for keeping calm and playing it cool.

"Emma! I'm not… We are not discussing this here!"

Regina grabbed the lapel of Emma's leather jacket and yanked her outside. Emma was too caught off guard to put up much of a fight.

Once outside Regina let go of her jacket and turned away from Emma for a moment. When she turned back round to face her, Emma was caught off guard by the vulnerability she saw on Regina's face.

"I'm sorry for avoiding you Emma. I never even thought about how that would look to you. But I promise you it wasn't for the reason that you think."

Emma felt like she'd been slapped. It was one thing to suspect that Regina had been avoiding her, it was quite another to hear Regina say so herself.

"Then why?" Emma whispered, the hurt she felt evident in her voice.

Regina took a deep breath.

"The truth is… I was scared. Not of you, but of my feelings. I've spent my entire life ignoring my sexuality, and then when you told me about yours it felt like I couldn't hide from it anymore, but I still wasn't ready to face it, so I tried to avoid it, but that meant avoiding you… I'm so sorry Emma, I didn't mean to hurt you. You… You've been a good friend to me."

Emma felt her heart breaking at Regina's words. Having met Cora, she could imagine how hard it must have been for her growing up trying to hide and ignore how she felt. That kind of conditioning isn't easy to forget as an adult.

"You don't have to hide from me Regina," Emma whispered, "you never have to hide from me. I will always be your friend, no matter what, and I will help and support you in this in whatever way I can, okay?"

Regina's smile was radiant.

"Thank you Emma, that really means a lot to me. Perhaps we could have that movie night after all?"

Emma reached out and linked her arm with Regina's with a smile. She'd just had a brilliant idea.

"That sounds great. Have you heard of a film called _Imagine Me And You?_ "

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, please feel free to send me prompts here or [on tumblr](http://magicsophicorn.tumblr.com).


End file.
